“I’ve wanted to fight Pereira for a long time, even back when he had won eight in a row,” Magomedov told UFC.com this week. “But I’m happy that it will happen in Baku, because it’s a very close location to Dagestan. I will show what Kafkas is – the spirit of Kafkas.”
“Kafkas” is the term sometimes used to refer to the Caucasus region where Magomedov grew up. The region has produced a host of champions, including Khabib Nurmagomeov and Islam Makhachev, but Magomedov’s fighting style is markedly different from his two UFC champion compatriots.
His unique, pirate-inspired look, coupled with his crowd-pleasing fighting style, instantly drew the support of UFC fans as he racked up early victories over Bruno Silva, Antonio Trocoli, Michal Oleksiejczuk, and Armen Petrosyan. But in February 2025, the Dagestan-born fighter took his first career loss at the hands of the always-tricky Michael “Venom” Page.
